Reports from Around the City of Baltimore

For anyone who cares about Baltimore, watching events unfold last night was devastating. The Twitter account https://twitter.com/mattdpearce/lists/baltimore reports trashed 7-11s all over the city, a rising police presence, and signs of caring Baltimoreans organizing to clean up the mess (at 10 a.m. today, at the corner of Pennsylvania and North Avenues).

Below, from a Bolton Hill resident:

Looters smashed windows and broke through a metal roll-down door in the Save-a-Lot shopping center on McMechen Street in Bolton Hill. Neighbors arrived minutes later to stand in front of the stores, board them up and help sweep up the debris and broken glass.

Despite their efforts, looters came back — this time, not the bands of young men the neighbors had seen before, but people driving SUVs and cars. Neighbors, African-American and white, shouted at them to go away, and said they were writing their tag numbers down.

Then came another group of six or seven young men, and a fight broke out between the neighbors protecting the stores and looters trying to run into Rite Aid. A neighbor sprayed a yellow cloud at a young man. He fled, but not before someone was hit on the head.

Looters darted into the back of the store and hauling out goods and loading them into cars. There were no police in sight. People could be seen walking casually away with large loads of looted goods piled high in grocery carts.

As we learn more, we will report it. Please help us by sharing with us know what you know.